I'm The American Nightmare, yeah, I'm living' the dream, I'm slashing my way through the golden age of The Silver Scream!
They say it's hard getting into the movies. Try getting out!
— The tagline for the album.
The Silver Scream is the fifth studio album by Ice Nine Kills. All of the songs released on the album are based on horror movies, such as Friday the 13th, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Shining.
Five music videos based on some of the songs were released, telling a story about the band's lead singer: Spencer Charnas, visiting a psychiatrist after supposedly having nightmares. Given the violent nature of the dreams he describes, his therapist: Dr. Ian Black, becomes convinced that he's a psychopathic murderer, and starts investigating to see if his claims are true. The series can be watched here
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On October 25, 2019, a reissue of the album called The Silver Scream: Final Cut was released, adding several new songs to the mix, including a Cover Version of Michael Jackson's Thriller, a song based on Scream, a live track, and three acoustic tracks.
Examples:
- Asshole Victim: Dr. Black, who was indirectly responsible for Spencer's murderous rampage, and only cares about fame when he's trying to uncover Spencer's insanity, is killed at the end of the final video.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Dr. Black is seeking to uncover the truth behind the killings, but is insistent that Spencer is a killer, and only cares about becoming famous by exposing a criminal. It's also his fault Spencer became a monster, anyway.
- Cassandra Truth: The bartender in the video for "A Grave Mistake" doesn't believe Dr. Black's claims of a violent fight behind the bar. Since the doctor was drugged, it's possible that he was hallucinating.
- Cliffhanger: Spencer's nightmare in "The American Nightmare" ended before the girl could pull the dream demon into the real world. Given his statement about it, it's possible that many of his dreams ended the same way.
- Downer Ending: Spencer's dream in "Thank God It's Friday" ends with no one surviving.
- The series ends with Spencer, having been revealed to be the killer Dr. Black believed him to be, getting away with his crimes, leaving the deceased doctor to take the fall.
- Expy: The music videos all have their villain characters look almost identical to real horror villains, with some differences, such as Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers having the roman numeral "IX" carved onto the foreheads of their masks.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: "The World in My Hands" is based on Edward Scissorhands, making it the only song on the album that isn't inspired by a horror movie.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Floyd Schecter, a criminal who killed Spencer's sister, her friends, and his parents after Dr. Black had him released from Hawshank Prison.
- Karma Houdini: Spencer gets away with all of the crimes he committed by framing Dr. Black for them.
- Last Note Nightmare:
- The stabbing sounds and dying screams and gurgles at the end of "Your Number's Up".
- "Thank God It's Friday" ends with a calm solo, which abruptly transitions to some harsh guitar riffs along with the hook, to symbolize the first film's Jump Scare ending.
- Mythology Gag: "Enjoy Your Slay", based on The Shining, features screams by Sam Kubrick, whose grandfather directed the most famous adaptation of the book.
- One-Word Title: "Savages"
- Real After All: Some of Spencer's dreams are almost identical to real world murders, as Dr. Black discovers, such as the dream described in "A Grave Mistake", which Dr. Black feels is connected to several bodies being found hanging from streetlights. Most notably, the dream Spencer had in "Stabbing in the Dark" is similar to a real world murder case that had a young child as the Sole Survivor. The child was later revealed to be Spencer.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: "A Grave Mistake", being a song based on The Crow (1994), has a music video where a fictional version of Spencer rises from the grave to seek vengeance on the people who killed him a year ago.
- In the entire series of music videos, this is Spencer's primary motivation for killing: to seek revenge on Dr. Black for ruining his life.
- Serial Killer: Dr. Black is convinced that Spencer is one given how violent his dreams are, and connections he makes between them and real-world murders.
- Small Role, Big Impact: A flashback in the "IT is the End" music video shows a criminal named Floyd Schecter, who only appears in this one scene. He turns out to be the Greater-Scope Villain of the story, as Dr. Black released him from prison years ago, and Floyd killed Spencer's family.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Love Bites" doesn't have any screaming in it, and there doesn't seem to be any malicious activity going on, being a love story based on An American Werewolf in London.
- Villain Song: Every song on the album is one, with the exceptions of "Thank God It's Friday", "Rocking the Boat", "The World in My Hands", "A Grave Mistake" and "Love Bites".
